CHAPTER FIVE
Eighteen Thirty-Six
*tw - allusion to verbal abuse

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

     ZELDA'S GRIP ON HER SPEAR NEVER LOOSENED, NOT EVEN FOR A SECOND. She learned that the woman who dragged her around and nearly strangled her was called Regina and the pale woman who brought her food and water was called Mary Margaret.

     "You can put the spear down, love. It's just us," the man in the dark coat said as he sat down beside Zelda under the tarp.

     "I don't even know you," the raven haired girl said. "For all I know, you could use that hook hand of yours to kill me."

     "Now, why would I harm such a lovely lady like you?" the man asked while raising an eyebrow. "Pardon my manners. My name is Killian."

     Zelda didn't know how to respond to his words. No one besides Peter Pan had ever spoken to her that way and she couldn't tell if he was being genuine or if he was just playing with her. Since Pan's words were anything but sincere, she wasn't sure if she could trust the man she had just met.

     "You already know my name," she said while avoiding eye contact. "I'm sorry but if you don't mind, I just want to be alone right now."

     Zelda didn't even spare Killian a second glance as she heard him get up and walk away. After being locked inside a cage alone with little to no contact with anything from the outside, being alone should have been the last thing she wanted. But at the same time, she had gotten so used to being alone that it had become the default for her. Even though Mary Margaret was the kindest person she had ever met and she stuck close to her during the walk to their camp, being surrounded by new people still came as a shock to her. Mary Margaret's kindness and gentle touch was like nothing she had ever felt before but Regina's attitude and instinct to interrogate her and strangle her was like a reminder of the cold truth, that she didn't know who to trust. These people were no different.

     "You know something."

     Zelda looked up from the berries that Mary Margaret gathered and saw Regina towering over her with her hands on her hips.

     "What do you want from me? I keep telling you that I don't know who Henry is or where he is," she sighed.

     "You've been in Neverland for years so you must know something that could help us find him, something about Pan, a clue, anything," the dark haired woman said and Zelda ran her hands through her hair.

     She did not want to tell any of these people that she spent years locked inside a tiny cage when she had just met them. Regina really had her heart set on finding Henry which Zelda had nothing against but she also had her mind set on the assumption that Zelda knew something that could lead them to him.

     "Just leave her alone, Regina. You already interrogated her and you could've killed her too," the blonde woman said while staring at a blank piece of parchment.

     "Well, I'll be happy to finish what I started," Regina said as she reached for Zelda's arm.

     It was like something lit up inside of her and she was driven by nothing but the instinct to fight back. She used the pointed head of her spear to swipe Regina's hand away and the woman took her arm back. Zelda stood up and she had the spear pointed towards Regina, ready to thrust it forward if she had to. Although Regina had magic on her side and was a stronger opponent than Felix, she was still ready to fight back.

     "Don't touch me," she said slowly while glaring at Regina who stood there nonchalantly with her arms resting on her sides.

     "Or what? What exactly are you gonna do with that stupid little stick of yours?" Regina challenged.

     "A lot more than you think," Zelda replied and refused to look away or lower her weapon.

     "Instead of fighting each other, why don't we focus on how to get this map to work?" the man with the dirty blonde hair asked with his arms crossed.

     "Pan said it has to be me. He says I have to stop denying who I really am," the blonde woman said while looking at the blank parchment.

     "You're seriously going to play this demon child's game?" Regina questioned incredulously.

     "Last time you tried to use magic instead, Pan called it cheating and sent the Lost Boys after us," the blonde said.

     "And it got David hurt," Mary Margaret added.

     "Since we're talking about results, let's talk about the dead weight we have that you insisted on joining us," Regina said while looking at Mary Margaret and Zelda.

     "I'd step aside if I were you. I've been stuck here long enough to know that when Pan says something, he always sticks to his word," Zelda said.

     "The little lady is right," Killian said.

     "Are you serious, Pirate? You're actually going to listen to someone who hasn't even been with us for two hours?"

     "She's been stuck on this bloody island for many years so I'd say if anyone knows Peter Pan the best, my money would be on her."

     Zelda looked at the dark haired man for a brief moment before looking back at the irritated woman.

     "Unless you want another quarrel with the 'demon child' and his minions, I suggest you be patient and let Blondie over there figure it out," she said and Regina huffed in annoyance.

     Zelda waited for Regina to walk away before sitting back down under the tarp. She did have some of the water and berries but pretty soon she couldn't take anymore. She couldn't remember the last time she had any food or water and she kind of got so used to running on an empty stomach and being dehydrated that she didn't realize how bad it was getting. Even when interacting with these five strangers, she didn't know how to talk to them. She didn't even learn every name yet but she wasn't sure if there was even a point in learning them. How long were they going to let her follow them around like a lost puppy? If they even got to make it out of Neverland to begin with, what was going to be the next step for her? Where was she going to go?

     "How many years has it been since you got here?" Mary Margaret asked as she took a few berries for herself.

     The more Zelda tried to recall the amount of years she had been trapped on the island, the harder it became. She had already lost count of the years after she ran out of room on the walls of her cage to mark the days that passed by and time was different in Neverland.

     "I don't know. I lost count a long time ago," she said while shrugging her shoulders and fidgeting with her spear.

     "Can you at least remember what year it was when you came here?" Mary Margaret questioned.

     "It was eighteen thirty-six. I was sixteen at the time," the raven haired girl replied. Zelda played with a loose thread on her overalls but stopped when she heard nothing but silence. Everybody was completely silent and some even looked uncomfortable and Zelda had no idea what was going on. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

     "Listen, love. I don't know how to tell you this but─"

     "You've been stuck on this island for a hundred and seventy-seven years," Regina said bluntly, completely cutting off Killian's sentence.

     "Yeah," he huffed.

     "That's not possible. I know I've been stuck here for a few years but there's no way it's been that long," Zelda said as she stood up while holding her spear.

     "How many years did you count before you lost track?" Mary Margaret asked.

     "I marked almost six years, I know I've been here for over six years but there is no way that I have been stuck on this God damned island for almost a hundred and eighty years. There's no way," Zelda said.

     "It's true. Where we come from, the year is two thousand thirteen," David countered.

     "Don't waste your breath, she's clearly in denial," Regina said while rolling her eyes.

     "Why don't you try spending years locked inside a cage ten feet above the ground isolated from everyone else and see how well you handle it when someone tells you that you've been stuck on an island and not aging for over an entire freaking century," Zelda said while glaring at Regina.

     "How about we just figure out how to get this damn map to work and worry about that later? 'Cause right now, all I want to do is find my son and bring him home," the blonde woman said with frustration in her tone.

     "And we will. Don't worry, Emma," Mary Margaret said while standing next to the blonde.

     So I guess her name is Emma and she's Henry's mother, Zelda thought to herself but the new information never left her mind. She had already known that she had spent years stuck in Neverland but to learn that it had been almost a hundred and eighty years since she arrived was a hard pill to swallow. Also knowing that she hadn't aged from sixteen the whole time she was trapped was even more hard to digest on top of everything else. While Emma and Mary Margaret strayed away from the group, David, Killian, Regina and Zelda stayed where they were but all Zelda could do was think about everything she had just heard.

     "Are you still in shock?" the pirate asked and Zelda looked at him for a brief moment before looking back at the ground.

     "I just found out that I've been stuck here for a hundred and seventy-seven years and I haven't aged since then. I didn't even think I would make it to twenty-five and here I am at a hundred and ninety-three years old all because I was stupid and made a poor decision," Zelda said. "I thought I was gonna be stuck here forever."

     "Well, once we find Henry and leave this place, you can come with us," Killian said as he sat down beside her.

     "Pan isn't going to just let me leave. And even if I found a way to get out of here, where am I supposed to go? I have no home, no family, I don't even know what it's like back where I came from after all these years and I'm literally almost a two hundred-year-old woman in a sixteen-year-old girl's body," Zelda said while running her fingers through her hair.

     "Well to be honest, a hundred and ninety-three looks pretty good on you," Killian said with a smirk on his face.

     "I look like a twelve-year-old boy with really long hair," Zelda replied as she looked at her hands.

     She had no idea what Killian was trying to do and she wasn't sure if it was a good thing. She remembered the last time a boy gave her any sort of attention, she was hanging up the laundry and her mother saw the interaction between them. Zelda was called inside immediately and her mother started yelling at her and calling her all sorts of nasty names.

     "I didn't raise you to be a filthy whore!" was what her mother would say.

     The same sentence came to mind whenever any boy of all ages would look at her and the ones who were more brave than the others would talk to her. Her mother's words and the fear of what she would do if she saw them was enough to make Zelda clam shut and go inside. Even though her mother wasn't around to call her a whore, she was still uncertain about Killian and what his intentions were.

     "Guys, the map is working," Emma said. "We know where Henry is."

     "Where?" Regina asked while everyone gathered around to look at the map.

     "We're here at the southern tip of the isle, in the middle of the Dark Jungle, and Pan's camp lies due north," Killian said as he ran his hook hand along the parchment.

     "That's where he's keeping Henry," Emma said.

     "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go," Regina said.

     "The terrain is not easy. There will undoubtedly be some nasty impediments along the way," Killian said.

     "Not to mention that Pan's camp will be crawling with Lost Boys once we get there," Zelda said with her arms crossed.

     "We should prepare. The only reason we escaped before was because Pan let us. We need a new plan," David said.

     "Agreed," Emma said. "It's time to stop playing his game and he starts paying ours."

     "And if I disagree?" Regina challenged.

     "Go ahead, but I'm sure that you know that our best chance at finding Henry is doing it together."

     "You better be right."

     While everyone was getting their stuff ready for the journey to Pan's camp, Zelda made sure her spear was sharp and ready. She hated the idea of having to go back after she barely escaped and survived but she also hated the idea of being alone while everybody else went. She knew that if she strayed away from the crowd, Pan would capture her the first chance he gets and she refused to become his prisoner again.

     She stayed close to the crowd as they walked through the jungle but she nearly jumped at every sound she heard. She was right behind Killian while everybody travelled in a line like a row of ducks.

     "Easy, love. I'm sure we'll be there soon," Killian said when he noticed Zelda frantically looking around the jungle.

     "I'm not worried about the trip there, I'm worried about what will happen when we do get there," she replied as she stepped over a log.

     "It must not be easy going back after finally escaping."

     "It's like I'm asking to be his prisoner all over again."

     "Well, if Pan or any Lost Boys attack you, you have that spear of yours to fight back."

     Zelda scoffed. "I never even knew how to fight until I got here," she said.

     "What do you mean?" Killian asked as they continued to trudge through the jungle.

     "My mother was the worst. She wasn't even my real mother, she was just someone who decided to raise me after my real mother gave me away when I was barely a year old. She was horrible and I hated her but I could never stand up to her. And then Pan's shadow brought me here and Pan made me fight against Felix," Zelda said while Killian held a branch out of the way for her to pass through.

     "That bloody demon made you fight another kid as soon as you got here?"

     "Right before knocking me out and throwing me in a cage."

     Killian chuckled and Zelda looked at him confused. "Sorry love, but I find it amusing how he makes you fight someone and then locks you up," he said.

     "Well actually, he locked me up after I told him I wanted to leave after he made me fight against Felix," Zelda replied. "I left that part out."

     "How much further?" Regina questioned.

     "We should be getting close to Pan's lair," Emma said while everybody paused to look at the map. "Going in a straight-line course..." Emma trailed off when the red X on the map moved from one spot to another. "Son of a...How is it now behind us?"

     "How can that be?" Mary Margaret questioned.

     "You got us lost," Regina deadpanned.

     "Oh yeah, blame Emma," Zelda scoffed.

     "Excuse me?"

     "This is simply another one of Pan's classic games to mess with us."

     "The little lady is right. Emma didn't get us lost, Pan is moving his camp," Killian said.

     Regina glared at Zelda who only shrugged her shoulders. "Told you it was a game," she said.

     "If Pan keeps moving his camp, how the hell are we supposed to find Henry?" Emma questioned.

     "If Pan keeps moving his camp, you may not be able to find Henry," Zelda sighed.

     "So this whole trek has been for nothing."

     "If I could just use some magic, we can materialize in the camp and grab Henry," Regina said, clearly frustrated.

     "Have you not been listening at all? We don't even know where his camp is," Mary Margaret said.

     "Pan will have shields against magic so attempting to use any may result in your death, and more importantly, mine, which is why we're walking," Killian said.

    "What's your idea, Pirate? How exactly are we going to find it?" Regina asked while glaring at him.

     "By using someone he trusts," Killian said.

     "Who? Because I doubt he trusts you and I doubt he would trust Zelda after she escaped him," David said.

     "There's a fairy who lived here while I was about. She might still be in Neverland and she would be an inside source, knows everything about the camp and can get us in," Killian said. "She might even have some pixie dust."

     While Killian and the others were talking about the difference between pixie dust and fairy dust, Zelda was confused but she still listened. She was still new to the whole magic thing, even though the entire island was magic. She still had no idea about what half the stuff everybody else was talking about was. Even when the group realized that the fairy they needed to find was named Tinker Bell, Zelda just followed everybody through the jungle and tried to understand what they were talking about. Now that they sort of had a way to find the camp and get in, Zelda just hoped that they also had a plan to get out once they found what they were looking for.